City sparrowhawks are excellent ‘better breeders’ as compared to rural birds

Two populations of the hawks were examined for over four years by a group of researchers from the Scottish Raptor Study Group alongside RSBP Scotland. They declared that much higher breeding rate was observed for the urban hawks widely found in Edinburgh in Ayrshire.

Frequently were grounds inhabited in the city

Examined by the scientists were two raptor populace from 2009 to 2012 in what it was declared to have never taken place before. Of the 20 attempts at breeding that proved unsuccessful, two only was recorded in Edinburgh, with the remaining in Ayrshire. The volume of desertion has been registered to be higher in the suburban areas.

Due to the failure of several nests, the poorer breeding rate was expressed in the sparrowhawk population. It is projected that there are 12,000 sets of sparrowhawks in Scotland. 195 sparrowhawks pairs were analyzed over 177 distinct territories.

More sparrowhawks in Gardens and Parks

Michael Thornton, the lead author of the paper, stated that the survey indicated that urban areas such as parks and gardens could make available suitable sites for nests and a recorded surplus of species for the hunt of sparrowheads.

A contributing author of the paper, StaffanRoos opined that
‘The accessibility of food seems to have contributed importantly to the observed variances between city residing sparrowhawks and those who are domiciled by the countryside.

“Great numbers of Songbirds are found in Parks, and surrounding Gardens that are fed on by the raptors and the formation of urban terrains in Edinburgh and other European cities, including woodlands and parks neighboring private gardens provides an ideal hunting environment for sparrowhawks.”

Among the initial raptors to colonize the urban areas around Europe are Sparrowhawks, moving into cities and towns of Britain near the 1980s. There are about 582,000 pairs of the European sparrowhawk. The UK possesses about 35,000 pairs with an estimated 12,000 of those in Scotland.

The population of the European sparrowhawk is thought to near 582,000 pairs. The UK maintains 35,000 sets, with 12,000 of the total in Scotland.